Unseen
by Spunky0ne
Summary: Brought out of the shadows of obscurity and made a squad six officer, Byakuya's younger cousin, Tetsuya acts to make Byakuya's fondest wish come true. But after bringing happiness to Byakuya and Renji, he finds himself swept up in a dream he never could have anticipated...yaoi romance, lots of fluff, perfect for the holidays and yes, mpreg! Byakuya/Renji, then Bya/Ren/Tetsuya.


**Unseen**

**(A sweet, romantic holiday love story for Winterheart2000. Begins as a Bya/Ren and morphs into a gentle and adorable Bya/Ren/Tetsuya. May this one light your holiday fires! Cheers everyone! Love, Spunky)**

**Chapter 1: Shadow**

Renji glanced up from his work as a hell butterfly entered the sixth division headquarters and turned towards Byakuya's desk.

"Another one for you, Taichou," he said, shaking his head and grinning, "What's all of the buzz about anyway? That's gotta be the tenth hell butterfly in the last hour. Something going on?"

"You might say that," the noble said, not looking up from his work, "We are being assigned a new third seat, and I thought it would be appropriate to greet him with an officers' gathering."

"Finally!" the redhead sighed, looking pleased, "I was getting tired of handling the job of two people for months on end. It's about time we found someone. Is it anyone I know?"

"You know _of_ him," Byakuya confirmed, "although I do not know if you have ever actually caught sight of him. Most people rarely do. He is extremely good at keeping a low profile."

"Aww, man, you aren't telling me we're getting one of those second division creepers. Most of those guys are really annoying!"

"This young man has never served a day in the Gotei 13. In fact, it was only yesterday that the clan elders rescinded the law that has kept him from obtaining an officers' position in the military for the past hundred years."

"What? Really? He's from your clan? Who is he?"

"Do you recall when we were doing cleanup duty in Hueco Mundo, rooting out the quincies who had made a secret base there, and that small group of us was separated from the main force and cornered?"

Renji's breath caught slightly as he thought back.

_"Wh-what the hell was that?" Renji gasped, staring in surprise as a fresh wave of enemies appeared on the slope ahead of them, and another behind, "Was this what you were thinking of when you said you didn't like the look of this place, Taichou?"_

_"Precisely," Byakuya said shortly, calling out a quick command to the group around them._

_Instantly, the rest of the shinigamis with them formed a defensive circle, and the noble loosed a wild hail of pink petal blades to force the two sets of enemies back. As the quincies were pushed back, Zabimaru's battle shriek tore through the air and the skeletal snake wrapped around the trapped group. Without, the quincies closed in around them, working to shear away the dense reiatsu that surrounded Zabimaru's great, reptilian body._

_"I don't know how long this is going to hold them off," Renji said darkly, looking around at the haunted expressions of the squad members who had been trapped with them, "They knew exactly what they were doing when they trapped us in here. It didn't look like they were engaging the other group of our guys seriously."_

_"No, the focus is definitely on us," Byakuya agreed, "I would say that they read our formations and tactics flawlessly, and they knew that the more powerful ones among us were in this cluster."_

_"Huh," huffed Renji, frustration rising inside him as the quincies continued to steal reiatsu from his bankai, "Tell me something, Taichou, is there anything these guys don't fucking anticipate about us?"_

_"Juha Bach trained all of his troops to attack with deadly precision. And even though their leader is gone and they do not have the advantage of watching us from the shadows anymore, they still retain detailed knowledge of how to conceal themselves, and how to deal with our reconnaissance groups. They knew just how to capture the ones of us who would be most useful as hostages. And if we do not offer them a surprise of a very large nature, they are going to have us."_

_Renji frowned curiously at the calm detachment in the statement and the overall lack of concern in the noble's bearing._

_"So, why do you look like you know something they don't? What have you got up your sleeve, Taichou? Because, you know that, as soon as they cut us off from everyone else, the others fell into a defensive position and they're being held back, just out of range of being any goddamned use to us! We'd need the power of another captain level, at least, to open the door for us and..."_

_Renji went still, his eyes widening, as the ground shook all around them, nearly taking them off their feet._

_"What the hell?"_

_"The barrier is set around us," Byakuya intoned quietly, "Recall your bankai and be ready to move at my command."_

_"Wh...yeah, sure, Taichou," the redhead said, backing off his power and watching as Zabimaru retracted._

_As the glow around the retreating skeletal snake faded, the group within Byakuya's protective barrier was able to see the enemy positioned around them and trying to steal away the power that held them back._

_"Taichou," Renji said worriedly, "Taichou, I don't see the rest of our group at all! Where are they? The quincies didn't...?"_

_"No," the noble answered with certainty, watching as the attacking enemies felt the quaking of the ground under their feet and redoubled their efforts at breaking down the protective barrier, "That was not the power of an enemy that we felt."_

_"Then...?"_

_Renji felt the breath leave his body as a barely visible silhouette raced up the ridge near them, and a crushing volley of ice blades struck with perfect precision, hammering the circle of enemies, where they surrounded the trapped group and upending their attempt to reach the trapped shinigamis._

_"Thank you, whoever you are!" Renji exclaimed softly, watching with still-widened eyes as the surprised quincies scattered and swiftly began to disappear._

_He had a momentary glimpse of the shimmering outline of a slender man on horseback, then the image faded and Byakuya's barrier around them fell away. The noble opened a gate into the precipice world and signaled for their comrades to pass through. As the shinigamis made an orderly retreat, Renji frowned and scanned the area around them, looking for their shadowy benefactor._

_"Okay," he said, shaking his head, "Who the hell was that, Taichou? Because I know I've felt that reiatsu before. But I don't know who it is. Was that someone from the second division?"_

_"That was my failsafe," Byakuya said, follwing Renji through the gateway and closing it behind them, "something that the quincies never had any data on...a captain level fighter who is not documented in Gotei 13 files, because he is a member of my clan and not the military."_

_"Who?" Renji mused, "You had a captain level fighter shadowing us that whole time?"_

_"Yes."_

_"Okay, I'm feeling kinda embarrassed now, because after all of the fucking training I did to improve my ability to sense trace reiatsu, I have to admit I had no idea he was even there!"_

_"Exactly. That young man's job is to be invisible and to never be more than a breath away if anything threatens me."_

_"What?"_

_"He is my bodyguard."_

_"Shit."_

_"What's wrong?" Byakuya asked, smirking slightly._

_"Now I feel even more embarrassed," Renji said, looking intimidated, "I knew I had sensed his reiatsu somewhere before, but I didn't know it was because the guy was there all of the time! For how long has he been shadowing you, Taichou?"_

_He was stunned to see the noble actually smile._

_"Since we were teens."_

_"Holy hell!" Renji mused, slapping a hand to his head and looking deflated, "Okay, now I'm feeling like I don't know a damned thing again."_

_"It is good to be humbled once in a while. But do not take it personally, Abarai. He has trained his whole life to be a competent and deadly protector, and he has defended me flawlessly."_

_"Oh yeah?" Renji chuckled, "Then where the hell was he when that bastard, As Nodt was blowing us to kingdom come before? Huh? What was he doing while we were being beaten to a pulp?"_

_"He was evacuating our clan to a hidden compound. He is the reason why, of all of the clans, ours had the least number of casualties when the quincies first attacked."_

_"Ah," the redhead said, comprehension in his eyes, "That would have been the priority that day."_

_"Yes. Although his conscience ate away at him a bit for it."_

_"So, do I get to meet this guy someday?" Renji asked, looking around._

_"Someday...perhaps. Maybe if you improve your perception, you will be able to take him by surprise."_

_"That's not nice, Taichou!"_

"Yeah," Renji said, shaking his head ruefully, "I remember. So, I finally get to see him, face to face?"

"Yes."

"But why now? You said that your laws prevented him from being in the service? Why?"

Byakuya's eyes lowered for a moment.

"It is not an easy thing to admit, but there is a certain sect among the clans who have a history of being mistreated. And, falling into that group, this man spent much of his childhood in a cell in an illegal clan prison, merely for the fact that his mother was a commoner."

"What?"

"He is half noble. His father was my father's first cousin, but he defied the clan and secretly married a peasant woman. They fled into the Rukongai, but the group that ran the illegal prison discovered where they had gone and captured them. For years, no one knew their fate but their captors. And by the time we found the prison, this man's parents had both died, and he was a young teen who had never spent a day outside the confines of that place."

"Damn..." Renji breathed, "And I thought Rukia and me had it shitty, down there in Inuzuri."

"He had a hard childhood. But it built motivation for him to become strong. For a hundred years, he has worked to become strong. And he was the very first half-blood given the honor of defending a clan leader as his personal bodyguard. Such a thing was unheard of before."

"But, they let you marry a peasant," Renji said, frowning, "Your heir would have been half-blood too! Wouldn't they have...?"

"After the freeing of the ones in the illegal prison, and the revelation of the atrocities committed upon them, clan laws slowly began to change. First, the half-bloods were given just the right to bear our family name, and servant status within our family. But as time moved forward, my grandfather worked away at the lessening of hostile feelings towards these men and women. And all of this time, this young man has acted with perfect obedience, providing a living example of what true nobility is. And this is why, after the quincy attacks, the council accepted our proposal that he should remain even closer to me by serving in my division, as my subordinate. And when you assume the open taichou's position in a few months, he will be replacing you as my fukutaichou."

"Huh? Really..."

"You said you would not leave until you felt I had adequate protection, ne?" Byakuya reminded him.

"Yeah," Renji said, smiling good naturedly, "I did say that."

"And now you have no reason to hesitate any longer. But enough about that. We have some things that need finishing before the festivities tonight."

"Right, Taichou," Renji said, indicating the reports he had been working on, "The recon notes are in from our groups, and there are no more signs of enemy clusters in our areas. Kyouraku soutaichou has commended us on our efforts and assigned us a few new areas to patrol."

"Hmmm," the noble said, nodding approvingly.

"The deployment schedules are prepared and posted, inventories by the sixth and seventh seats have been completed and new supply orders went out today."

"Did you make the changes I noted?"

"Done and noted on the final report on your desk, sir," Renji answered, "The training schedule is done a day early and all orders from the first have been seen to."

"Very well," Byakuya said, finishing the report he was working on and setting it aside, "Now, we only have to prepare strategy for the living world mission next week and we will be done."

Renji moved over to the noble's desk, and the two spent the next few hours poring over the mission parameters and making their plans. They parted ways as the sun was setting, and Renji slipped into his quarters, where he took a quick shower, then clothed himself in his dress uniform. He left his quarters and found Byakuya exiting his room, dressed in a handsome kimono.

"You look great Taichou," Renji complimented him, his smile widening and a very light flush on his cheeks as he loosed the genuine compliment.

"Arigato," Byakuya said, falling in with him and proceeding out of the office.

The two turned down the next street and walked nearly to the end before reaching one of the buildings in the business district. They passed through security and into a large, beautifully decorated ballroom, then joined the group of seated officers who had been invited to the event.

The two moved about through the group, greeting the other guests and chatting as they enjoyed the refreshments that had been prepared for them, and the lively music that played in the background. The redhead became so focused on the social exchanges that he almost forget why it was that they had gathered. But he was suddenly reminded as Byakuya called the group to attention and moved to the front of the room.

Renji looked around expectantly as Byakuya greeted the guests, then began his address.

"As all of you know," his deep, calm voice intoned, "with the advancement of Kyouraku Shunsui to the position of Soutaichou, a taichou's position was left open. It is my honor to officially announce the advancement of our own, Abarai Renji, to the honored position of eighth division taichou."

A thunderous roar of applause rose around them as the officers raised their glasses to salute their comrade. Renji smiled widely, feeling a deep, lovely warmth inside as Byakuya's proud eyes met his in congratulations.

And it suddenly occurred to him.

_I'm leaving him._

_We'll still be comrades and now we'll both be taichous, but...things are going to be very different._

He thought back about all of the days and nights they had spent in the squad six office, digging through stacks of papers and working on strategy together. And it was almost unbearable, despite how much he had hated all of the paperwork, to think of not spending so much time in his mentor and now, friend's presence.

He kept a smile on his face as the sounds of congratulations faded and Byakuya's voice continued. He was so distracted that he almost forgot the other reason why they were there celebrating. He was jolted back to sudden awareness as a familiar presence reached him.

"Our new third seat," Byakuya was saying, "and soon to be, our fukutaichou, my cousin, Kuchiki Tetsuya."

Renji wasn't sure what he had expected, but his expectations were sent tumbling away as Byakuya's younger cousin stepped into view and accepted Byakuya's embrace in greeting.

He was slightly smaller and more lightly built than the Kuchiki clan leader, with lovely, deep sapphire eyes and wavy lengths of hair, the same raven color as his elder cousin's. A very soft glow seemed to radiate around him, and Renji could tell at once, that although he knew perfectly well how to present himself before the group, he wasn't one who relished direct attention. The hint of discomfort just beneath those calm eyes and a barely noticeable tension in his slender form wouldn't have been visible to most. But Renji had seen such things in Byakuya and recognized them immediately. And for some reason, he wanted more than anything to make the young man feel more at ease. He greeted Tetsuya with a charming smile, and thought the instant blush his greeting caused in the younger Kuchiki was oddly adorable.

"Welcome aboard, Tetsuya-san," Renji said, bowing briefly.

"Arigato, Abarai fukutaichou," Tetsuya answered, returning the gesture, then glancing at his cousin.

"Renji, would you please introduce Tetsuya more personally to the other guests?" Byakuya requested, "I have to see to the elders and other taichous in attendance."

"Sure thing," Renji said readily, "Come on, Tetsuya-san. Time to mingle."

Tetsuya fell in at his side and the two worked their way around the room, Renji accepting the exclamations of congratulations at his advancement, then introducing Tetsuya, who greeted each officer and spoke briefly with them before moving on to the next. They came to the last of the revelers and paused by the refreshment table, looking back at where Byakuya stood, talking to several of the Kuchiki elders.

"So, we've done all of the visiting we need to," Renji said, smiling at the look of genuine relief his words brought to Tetsuya's pretty eyes, "Would you like to dance, Tetsuya?"

"Ah..." the young man said, glancing at the other officers already on the dance floor, "I am sorry, but I have never danced to this kind of music before. I am afraid I would step on your feet in the attempt. I would rather not be remembered for being clumsy on the night of my introduction to the squad."

"Don't worry about that," Renji chuckled, capturing Tetsuya's smaller hands and tugging him forward, "Just follow me and I'll make sure you don't look clumsy, okay?"

"W-well...um..." the noble stammered, catching his breath as Renji nudged him into a turn and wrapped an arm around him.

"Just go with it," Renji said, looking down into Tetsuya's widened eyes, "Trust me, all right?"

Tetsuya had no time to answer as Renji's feet moved, forcing him to follow in a set of steps and turns that he found were close enough to what he knew for him to follow and look as though he knew what he was doing. Tetsuya went breathless, suddenly caught up in the lively music and finding himself entranced by the more feral nature of the moves that they were making together. A deeper flush came over his features as he realized that many of the other officers were watching them and smiling.

"You're a good dancer, Tetsuya-san," Renji complimented him, sending him into a dizzying turn, then recapturing him again.

"Th-thank you," Tetsuya replied, "But, Abarai-san..."

"Renji," the redhead corrected him, his familiarity flustering the other young man even more.

"Renji-san," Tetsuya went on, "I am grateful to you for helping me to introduce myself, but I do not wish to become a spectacle."

"What are you worried about? You look great. You're going to fit right in."

"Perhaps. But it is not considered proper for me to...become the center of attention."

"Right," Renji chuckled, "You're more used to being invisible, ne? But you're not going to be able to do that anymore, now that you're an upper officer in our squad. Face it, Tetsuya-san, your days of hiding in the shadows are over. You're one of us now. So relax and enjoy it. In a few short hours, you'll be wishing you were dancing with me instead of being buried in a mountain of boring paperwork!"

Renji paused as he caught sight of one of the elders observing the two of them closely, with a disapproving expression.

"Hey, uh, you want to step out onto the balcony and get some fresh air?"

"Yes," Tetsuya said, looking relieved at the suggestion.

Renji waited until the elder looked away for a moment, then swept Tetsuya out the door, onto the much quieter balcony. They stood together, under the stars and catching their breath as Tetsuya looked back into the room and edged further out of the elders' line of sight.

"What's wrong?" Renji asked, "I didn't get you into some kind of trouble with them or anything, right? Taichou said to get you more comfortable with the other officers."

"You didn't do anything wrong," Tetsuya assured him, "It is just that some of the elders are more disapproving of me. They will look for any reason to argue for the clan to rescind their decision to allow me into the military. If they had their way, I would still be a mere servant."

"Yeah, well let'em try to take you back," Renji said in a cavalier tone, "I'll knock'em down a peg or two."

Tetsuya couldn't quite stifle an unexpected sound of amusement that escaped him at the redhead's bold words. He met Renji's eyes appreciatively.

"Thank you, but no such measures are necessary," he assured the redhead, "I had noticed you are a rather brash person, at times."

"I take care of my friends, Tetsuya-san," Renji said, smiling at him again.

"But you barely know me," the blue-eyed noble mused.

"What are you talking about?" Renji said, his expression warming, "You've been shadowing Taichou for a long time. And that means that you and I have shared the mission of being his protectors. In my book, that makes us friends from way back, right?"

"Oh," said Tetsuya, surprise lighting his lovely face, "I never thought of it that way."

"Come on," Renji said, turning back towards the banquet hall, "They're going to start serving dinner."

Tetsuya followed, and the two rejoined the other officers, unaware of the curious expression in Byakuya's dark eyes as he spotted them and watched them from a distance. He was momentarily distracted by a low, male voice that rose up alongside him.

"You might want to tell _him_ to mind the image he presents in public," the elder said haughtily, "Not everyone agreed that he should be allowed to do this."

"The provision passed, Orochi," Byakuya said, frowning, "And I have seen nothing in Tetsuya's behavior that violated our rules. He was told to get to know the other officers, and that it what he is doing."

"Oh, is that so?" Orochi answered, watching Tetsuya closely as he took a seat at the table, alongside Renji, "It looked to me like he and your fukutaichou were doing most of the _connecting_. Does that bother you, Cousin?"

Byakuya answered him only with silence, and a derisive look as he turned away to join the others at the tables.

_Go ahead,_ Orochi silently dared him, _Embrace the peasants all you want. It will be your undoing._

Smirking to himself, Kuchiki Orochi fell in with the other elders, moving to the tables to join in the feasting.


End file.
